Chapter 95

The bedroom was bathed in the soft glow of a bedside lamp, its muted light casting long, warm shadows across rumpled sheets. Thomas lay on his back, propped up by a mountain of pillows, bare-chested, his skin still sticky from the remnants of an earlier massage oil. On the nightstand hovered a half-full jar of caramel sauce, its golden sweetness beckoning. Cassandra knelt astride his thighs, her black hair falling in a curtain around her face. In her slender fingers she held a dab of caramel, and her gaze traveled across his torso as though she were selecting a test subject for a delicate experiment.

Thomas’s heart thundered in his chest, a mixture of excitement and uncertainty swirling in his mind. He watched the caramel drip from between his wife’s fingertips, traced its path onto her palm. He had invited her into this playful adventure, yet now that the moment had arrived, she hesitated—and so did he.

“Honey?” Thomas’s voice was quiet at first, but when no movement fo